Improved railway-car brake



T. TOWNSEND.

l Car Brake.

No. 92,230. 'Patented July 6, 1869.

fraz/62050.76 a 1 PETERS, Phnlumogmptw. washingwn. uc.

anni Gettin.

FREDERICK TOWNSEND, 'OF ALBANY, NEW YORK.

Letters Patent No. {lv-2,230, lated July 6,v 1869.

IMFROVED RAILWAY-'CAR BRAKE. ,v

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part 0f the Same- To all whom it 'may concern:l

Be it known that I, FREDERICK TowNsaND, of the city and county of Albany, and State lof* New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements which are applicable to BailroadrCar Brakes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof', reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specication, in which Figure .l is a section, takenlongitudinally and centrally through a railroad-car bed,'having my improvements applied to it, and showing the relative positions of the parts when the brakes me released from the wheels.

Figure 2 is a similar view of the same parts, showing the relative positions of the parts when the brakes are applied to the. wheels.

Figure 3 is a bottom view of the ear-bed, showing the several parts for actuating the brakes, in the relative positions as indicated in fig. l.

Figure 4 is a sectional-view, showing one portion of the bifureated lever, its nut, and the screw-portion of the rotary brakeshaft. v

Figure 5 is an end View, showing the bifurcated lever, .its pendants, nut, and brake-shaft.

v Figure 6 is a sectional View, in detail, showing one mode of connecting the ends of the brake-shafts together by a coupling-link.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several gmes.

This invention relates to celtain novel improvements which are designed for operating railroad-car brakes, by means of a. rotary screw-threaded shaft, extending lon# gitudinally from one end to the other of a car-bed, in

combination with a travelling-nutr and with certain levers, to which theI b aire-bars are connected.

The naturel of my invent-ion consists- First, in a centrally-arranged screw-shaft, which is sustained beneath a car-bed by laterally-adjustable journal-boxes, so that such shaft will compensate, by its lateral movements, for the lateral vibrations of a car while in motion, and thereby prevent those devices, through which the screw-shaft actsl upon the brakes, from working hard, as will be hereinafter explained;

Secondly,- in a double-acting bifurcated lever, to whichthe brake-bars are connected, which is so constructed and arranged as to be acted upon by a travching-nut upon the screw-portion of the'longitudinal screw-shaft', by turning the latter either toward the right hand or the left, thus adapting the mechanism to be successfully operated to applyor release the brakes from either end of the car, as will be hereinafter explained.

Thirdly, in so constructing the forked ends of the double-acting lever, thatwhen the brakes have been fully applied to their wheels by the operation of the travelling-nut upon said lever, there will be no further movement of this lever, nor force applied to the brakes, notwithstainling the movement of said mit behcontinned in the same direction, thereby preventing derangement or breakage of the mechanism, as will be hereinafter explained.

Fourthly, .in pivoting the double-acting bifurcated leverto arms which depend from the car-bed, and which are connected loosely to said bed, so as to allow the lever a free lateral, as well as longitudinal move'- ment, for the purpose of allowing it to accommodate itself to the moiements of th'c trucks and the screwshaft, as will bc hereinafter explained.

The following description will enable others skilled in the art to understand how to carry my invention' into practical eiect. My inventionis applicable to railroadcars as at present constructed, without any material -changc in the arrangement.

In the drawings- I A represents a car-bed, mounted upon trucks, which may be constructed in the usual well-known manner.

B B B B represent brake-bars, which are arranged in horizontal planes, and transversely, with respect to the length of the bar-bed A.. h

These bars carry brake-shoes c a on their ends, which are intended to be drawn against the peripheries of the truck-wheels C O when it isdesired to check or stop the motion of the train. By means of hangers b b, depending from the truckframe, the brake-bars B are suspended. lhe drawings represent two pairs of brake-bars B, each pair being applied to the wheels of their respective truck.

.Each pair of brake-bars should be connected together by means of a rod, c, fastened at one end, at the mid-- dle ot' the length of one bar, B, and connected at the opposite end to one arm of a short lever, ll. ver l has arms of equal length, and it is pivoted to the outer brake-bar, at the middle of its length.

This lever l is connected, by means of a rod, e, to

one arm, f, of a bifurcated lever, D, the other arm of this lever being similarly connected to the brake-bars of the opposite truck.

The lever D is pivoted at g to the lower ends of pendants E E, which are connected looselyto the bottom of the car-bed A, at or near the middle of the length thereof, as shown clearly in the drawings.

1t will be seen, from the above description, that all the brakes can be applied to the wheels simultaneously, by inclining lever D either to the right or left hand of a perpendicular line, in a directionwith the length ofthe canbed. i Y

The lever D is constructed with forked arms h h, arranged at about an angle of forty-five degrees to one another,- aml also with slots ti, at the junction or crotches of these arms.

r1"he two side-portions of this lever receive between them a uut,'j, which is upon the' screw-portion le of' a shaft, G,which nut is constructed with studs n n on opposite sides, that are received by the slots t i on the side-portions of' lever l), as shown by tig. 5.

As long as the studs n a are in the said slots 'i i, and nutj is moving, the lever 1) will be moved in a corresponding direction, and will be caused to act upon the brakes, either'to apply them to their respective wheels or to release the wheels iront-them; but when the nut has moved beyond a certain point. on either side of the middle ofthe length of the ear-bed, so as to canse its studs ay n to pass over the arms ll, the further movement oi' the lever l) will cease, although thc said nut may continue to move.

The screw-shaft G extends the entire length ot' the car-bed, and is provided with coupling-balls l I on its extremities, which willbe hereinafter referred to more particularly.

This shaft is sustained by flanged journal-lmxcs l G', which are secured to rigid hangers 1I 1l', depending t'rom the car-bed A, so that the boxes i G' aml their shalt are allowed to move laterally on one side or the other ot' the. longitudinal centre ot' the car-bed.

The collars m m, which areseeured to the shatt- G, will prevent it from having endwise motion, butallow it to be rotated freely.

In carrying my invention into practice, T shall elnploy slotted-sleeve coupling-boxes l, like the one shown in tig. 2i, aml have balls I l on the ends oi' the. shai'ts (l, which will tit into said boxes I, and by means ot' studs pp ou the balls, iitting loosely into the slots in said boxes, one shai't, (i, can be. made to transnnt the rotary motion which it receives to other shat'ts; atthc Sallie time the. shai'ts will have universal motion allowed to them at theieiunctions, one with another.

throughout an entire train.

Instead ofthe ball-aml-.socket box-connections, the

sameresult may be accomplished by othermeans, as, for instance, the liuleeonnectiou s, represented in iig. b', might be adopted lhis consists ot'bell-mouths -r r, applied fast on the elnls ot' the shafts (i, and lprovided with curved or straight coupling-pins r'. 1

The coupling-pin lr of each bell-month, shown in iig. 6, is pivoted so as to swing in th\e are ot' a. circle and be guidedin its movements by the manner in which it is pivoted. Some such coupling will be required l'or connecting the rods G throughout a train ot'cars, it' it is intcmled to place the control ot' all the brakes under charge ot' the engineer, and to have him operate all the brakes from his station ou the engine; but il' it is intended to have brakemen stationed upon the platthat, by the movement of said nuty` in either direction from its central position, indicated vin figs. 1 and 4, the brakes can be applied simultaneously to all the wheels.

lt -will also be seen that the arms h li, ou lever il), in combination with the studs n n, on the uutj, allow this nut to be moved past the point requiredto fully apply the brakes without producingr undue strain upon thc'lever or the parts connected therewith.

In practice, l shall apply stops or spring-collars at the termini ot` the screw-tln'ead, so that should the nut j be casually moved so far as to leave its thread, the said stops would hohl it in such position as to canse the thread to take the nut again upon reversing the. rotary movement of the screw-shaft.'

l shall also' apply tm'n-buckles to the rods c e and c, for the purpose ot' adjusting.;- their length, according to circumstances;'also to compensate for wear of the brake-shoes.

I am a 'are that, broadly considered, it is not new to employ a rotary screw-shaft, arranged beneath a earbed, amladapted t'or operating devices which in turn aetnate the brakes; `but- I am not aware that adoubleacting eontrivance, which would operate substantially as described, has 'ever been known or used before my invention thereot".

Having described iny invention,

What l claim as new, and desire, to secure by Letters Patent,n isl. A latemily-movable screw-shaft, provided .with couplings on its extremities, and adapted for operating raihoad-car brakes, substantially as described.

L. A double-acting lever, D, or its equivalent, interposed between a tra-veiling nut, on a rotary screw-shal't, (l, and a system ot' brakes, substantially as described.

$5. liever l), constructed with forked arms h` i., and combined with atravelling nut anda system otbrakes, substantially as described.

4. The manner ol suspending the. lever' D from a ear-bed, so that it will accvonvnnodate itselt'to -the niotions ot the shat't (l and ear-trucks, substantially as described.

FREDK. TOWNSENI).

Witnesses:

1I. 1I. lansoxs, ll. W. Gamm-nro. 

